Winnie Soon
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Winnie Soon (孫詠怡) is an Associate Professor and the Director of the BA Art and Technology program at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL. With over 10 years of experience in academic research, teaching, and leadership, they have held visiting fellowships at various academic institutions, including the Center for the Study of the Networked Image, London South Bank University, UK (2022-), Goldsmiths, University of London, UK (2019), and the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong (2014).
Currently supervising three doctoral candidates focused on computer vision security studies, computational art practice and speculative AI, Soon’s research and practice intersect art and technology in the areas of Software Studies and Computational Cultures. They engage with topics such as queer code and computing otherwise, digital censorship, minor technology, and software publishing to explore the broader cultural and societal implications of technology. As the co-initiator of the art community Code & Share [ ], they bring together code, diversity, and art. Since 2022, Soon has co-edited the Software Studies Book Series at MIT Press, alongside Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, and Jichen Zhu, focusing on software as a site of societal and technical power.
Winnie Soon holds a PhD in Software (Art) Studies, spanning Cultural Studies, Computer Science, Media and Contemporary Art, and Performance Studies from Aarhus University (2017). They also have two Masters of Research degrees: an MSc in Digital Art and Technology from the University of Plymouth (2009) and an MA in Media Cultures from the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong (2008), as well as a BBA in Information Systems and Computing from the City University of Hong Kong (2001). Before joining academia, they gained 10 years of tech industry experience, working in areas such as search engines, mobile device infotainment, and IPTV in Hong Kong.
Soon has delivered keynotes, public talks, workshops, and exhibited their work internationally at museums, galleries, art/science festivals, libraries, universities, and conferences, including Ars Electronica (AT), FutureEverything (UK), Photographers’ Gallery (UK), ACM SIGGRAPH (USA), Pulse Art and Technology Festival (USA), Harvard Art Museum (USA), transmediale (DE), Digital Art Zurich Festival (CH), and many others.
They have also lectured at numerous academic institutions, including Hong Kong Baptist University, City University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong, University of Warsaw (Poland), National College of Art and Design (Dublin), Goldsmiths, University of London, University of Warwick (UK), ArtEZ University of the Arts (NL), Technische Universität Dresden (Germany), University of Siegen (Germany), Karlsrhe University of Arts and Design (Germany), IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark) and others.
Winnie Soon co-authored Boundary Images (with Giselle Beiguelman, Melody Devries, and Magdalena Tyżlik-Carver), Aesthetic Programming: A Handbook of Software Studies (with Geoff Cox), and Fix My Code (with Cornelia Sollfrank). They have received several awards, including the Winner of The 2018 Aarhus University Research Foundation PhD award, and the Golden Nica at Ars Electronica (Artificial Intelligence and Life Art Category) in 2023, WRO 2019 Media Art Biennale Award, among others. They continue to maintain ongoing software art projects such as net.art generator (with Cornelia Sollfrank and Gerrit Ché Boelz) and Queer Motto API (with Helen Pritchard and Cristina Cochior). (2025)
